Let your oven do the hard work with four of our favourite roast recipes

Few dinners fill bellies and nourish souls as effortlessly as a good old-fashioned roast, so we thought we'd share four of our favourites.

From a slow-roasted lamb shoulder to upside-down roast chicken and pork with perfect crackling, these dishes make the oven do the heavy lifting.

Upside-down roast chicken with lemony gravy

This easy recipe turns the traditional roast chook on its head.

Placing the bird in a roasting tin, breast side down, protects the delicate meat and also exposes the parson's nose — the fleshy tail stump — to give it a golden, crunchy texture. 

It's topped off with a delicious, creamy, herb and garlic-infused lemon gravy.

Crispy pork shoulder with five spice and green apple slaw

One of the biggest challenges when trying to make the perfect pork roast is nailing the crackling.

For this recipe, chef and cookbook author Hayden Quinn teamed up with comedian Matt Okine to share some tips about how to get it just right.

It takes a few hours of prep, but it’s worth it – and it pairs perfectly with the green apple slaw, which is quite tart and cuts through the fat.

Pot roast lamb shoulder with lemon, fennel and potatoes

This is another recipe that requires a little pre-planning, as it needs a few hours in the oven. 

However, it is simple to prepare, and the result is a tender, succulent, fall-apart lamb roast that’s bursting with flavour — and the oven does all the heavy lifting.

Roasted cauliflower with turmeric coconut sauce and fried lentils

Whole roasted cauliflower is versatile if you're looking for a meat-free option for the dinner table and there are plenty of flavour possibilities in this recipe from Hetty Lui McKinnon. 

Hetty suggests smothering it under a lemony tahini sauce and topping with black olives, balsamic-soaked raisins and parsley, or serving on a bed of romesco sauce, scattered with roasted chickpeas and baby spinach.